State to pay $1.1M for seized excavator

The State has been ordered to pay a Sangre Grande contractor $1.1 million for an excavator which police seized in 2016.

Vijay Persad, managing director of Vijay Contracting Company, sued the State after police, on February 4, 2016, seized his excavator without justification. Persad said the excavator was valued at an estimated $650,000 and he earned $3,000 a day by renting out the heavy machinery.

His claim for damages for loss of income was determined by Justice Frank Seepersad, yesterday.

Last year, Seepersad ordered the immediate release of the excavator and yesterday determined the award of damages, which is also to accrue interest.

Seepersad, in his ruling, said the issue of ownership was clarified when Persad supplied documents to prove he was the owner.

He said after providing proof, a 25-day period was reasonable to consider it, so the police should have released the excavator at that time.

However, the police unreasonably kept the excavator for 367 days and it was for this period Persad was compensated at a rate of $3,000 a day.

In his previous ruling, Seepersad said the detention of the excavator had, at that time, exceeded 13 months and no justifiable reason was given for its continued custody by the police. He said there was no evidence challenging Persad’s claim to ownership of the heavy machinery nor was there a claim by the police that the excavator was to be used as evidence in the course of any criminal proceedings.

“Even if goods are detained in the course of an ongoing investigation, that detention has to be limited to a reasonable period,” the judge said.

Attorney Gerald Ramdeen represented Persad.

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